


Nine Lives are Up

by wolfie22



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Last Day On Earth, different ending to the line up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 04:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7999117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfie22/pseuds/wolfie22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carol left because she couldn't kill for them, but she could die for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nine Lives are Up

The whistling was driving her insane.

The Saviors were apparently really trying to set a mood for this so called meet and greet. Carol had no idea where she was, but her head was killing her and the cut on her stomach was throbbing.

She blamed herself for getting into this mess. She should’ve checked the men in the truck more closely, but after her brief struggle with the man named Jiro, she had dropped her guard and allowed another of the survivors to knock her out.

She woke up in the back of a truck with her hands tied and a strange man pointing a gun at her aching head. They were parked in a clearing and she watched as more and more men started parking nearby. After a few moments of confusion, the man whom she had injured returned with a smile and a freshly patched shoulder to inform her that since she was from Alexandria, he had brought her to meet Negan.

The name Negan had been floating around her group for a while now, and they still had no idea who he was, but apparently they were about to find out.

She watched an RV being slowly driven into the clearing and tried to lunge forward as Eugene was pulled out and forced onto his knees. She cried out, but her attempt was quickly silenced by a harsh jab to her already wounded stomach. Eugene looked towards her in panic, but there was nothing either of them could do.

A few minutes after the RV showed up, the whistling started, and it was causing her headache to grow. The clearing was set like a stage, and the men were waiting for their main actors to arrive.

Her struggled began again as she watched Rick and her family walk into the clearing. They clearly had no idea what was happening, but they had been caught. Led like lambs to the slaughter.

She watched as a man told them to get to their knees and she felt anger bubble within her as she saw Maggie being helped off of a stretcher and lowering to her knees.

_What the fuck was Maggie doing outside again?_

No one saw her yet, but she could see Rick and in all the years that she knew him, he had never looked more terrified. As he sank to his knees with an expression of hopelessness, the others followed.

“Dwight! Chop, chop!” she heard one the men call out, and another moved to open the doors of a van. Her blood ran cold as she watched Daryl, Michonne, Rosita and Glenn being thrown to the ground with the rest of her family.

“You got another one?” The same man yelled again, and this time it was her turn. The man next to her grabbed her arm, untied her hands, and threw her towards the line-up. She stumbled, the blood loss finally catching up with her, and fell into Glenn who helped her to her knees.

Carol was at the end of the line-up and could see everyone. They all looked petrified, and with good reason. They had really fucked up this time, and she was certain that not all of them would get out of this encounter alive.

She looked to her left and met Daryl’s gaze. She quickly looked him over and noticed that he too was wounded, his shoulder was bleeding and he seemed to be losing strength as quickly as she was. She noticed that his eyes seemed to do the same and she shot him a small smile to assure him that her wound wasn’t as bad as it appeared.

She scanned everyone else in the lineup and became worried for Maggie. Something was definitely wrong with the baby. Maggie could barely stay up on her knees and Carol knew that she needed to get out of here as fast as possible.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a man walked out of the RV.

A man in a leather jacket slowly made his entrance with a smirk on his face. He seemed extremely pleased with himself and the work of his men. This was Negan, the man that Rick had thought he killed back after she and Maggie were found.

Molly’s words rang through her mind, _we are all Negan_.

There was no mistaking that this was the real Negan. The air itself seemed to change as the man began to talk. If the reaction from the men surrounding them was any indication, this man was to be respected, and feared.

“Which one of you pricks is the leader?”

Carol felt her brain shift into overdrive as the man started talking about how many of his people that they had killed. He was going to make them pay, and the baseball bat at his side would definitely be his weapon of choice. He introduced the bat to the line-up as if it were a person he loved, Lucille would be their fate.

“You work for me now,” apparently Negan wasn’t one for growing his own food, or even looting, he wanted others to just give it to him. He demanded half of everything and seemed pretty damn sure that he’d get exactly what he asked for.

“You can’t work for me if you’re dead, but you can’t get away with all this without being punished,” he moved to stand before Rick, “to show you how fucking serious I am, I’m gonna beat the fuck out of one of you.”

Negan waved the gruesome bat in front of Rick’s face while chuckling, “now since you’re the leader, I could make it real simple, right? Cut off the head and the rest will fall into place,” Rick was shaking, sweat was beading on his forehead, but his eyes went back and forth from Michonne to Carl. If these were his last moments, he was going to focus on the people that he loved.

“Luckily for you, I have another idea,” he lightly tapped Rick on the shoulder with Lucille, “so before we get to the fun, I have to know,” he swung the bat to his shoulder and spoke to the whole group, “where are Carol and Maggie?”

Carol’s head snapped up and she immediately reached out to grab Glenn’s hand and give it a quick squeeze before he could cry out for his wife. She found herself speaking before she was even aware of what she was saying, “I’m Carol.”

She had Negan’s attention, and her voice was steady though her body was not, “Maggie isn’t in your line up. If you know our names then you clearly know what happened a few days ago,” he moved to stand in front of her as she spoke, “she’s opting to stay behind walls for safety from now on.”

She could see Glenn attempting to calm himself next to her, and noticed Daryl beginning to struggle out of her corner of her eye. She sent Rick a look that she hoped he understood, and when she saw him place his hand atop Maggie’s she knew that the message was received. Maggie needed to keep quiet.

“Well one out of two ain’t bad,” he chuckled a little, “so tell me, Carol, which one of you killed my Paula, hmm?”

“I did,” once again her voice was strong, “shot Chelle too, and Donnie,” she paused to look up at Negan, “technically Donnie killed Molly. I let him bleed out and turn.”

She could see the others shaking their heads and silently begging her to stop. She was flat out taunting a murderer, and she knew it. She left Alexandria because she couldn’t kill for anyone, but she could die for them. She would die for any of them.

He raised a hand to his face to stroke his stubble in thought, “not gonna blame it all on the other chick? She ain’t here to take the fall, but you fess up anyway? That take some balls.”

He tore his eyes from her face and looked to the men behind her, “Roman, this is the one from this morning, right?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” the gruff voice of the man who had survived her attack came from close behind her, and Negan’s terrifying smirk appeared once again.

He moved away from her to walk back down the line-up, “this morning, I sent some of my best to Alexandria to stir things up a bit,” he paused in front of Rick, “they were going to shoot up the place, cause some havoc, ya know, show you that we mean business.”

He resumed his predatory walk, “imagine my surprise when I learn that my men didn’t even get to Alexandria! We’re setting up this nice little welcoming party, and one of my best comes back wounded and informs me that all of the others are fucking dead,” he takes Lucille and gestures to Carol, “this little silver fox started crying, made em think she was weak, and then shot em all,” he stalked back to Carol, “didn’t quite get to finish off Roman though, did ya sweetheart?”

He bent down to her level, “You took out two of my groups all on your own,“ his face was inches from hers as his tone became cheerful, “I’m so glad you could join us, and your friends here should be happy too,” he stood back up and threw his arms out wide, “think I’ve made my decision boys!”

“No!” Carol sighed and closed her eyes for a moment when she heard Daryl’s voice, “take me instead! I took out a bunch of your men on the road, just as many as her!”

“Awww ain’t that sweet?” Negan moved to Daryl, “it’s an emotional moment, I get it, but I’m gonna need you to shut the fuck up,” he gestured to the men nearby and Dwight moved forward to push the loaded crossbow against Daryl’s head.

“Daryl, don’t,” Carol tried to keep her voice steady once again, “don’t make this any harder. No one else needs to get hurt,” she took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves before looking at Daryl, “please stay safe, my nine lives are up but it’s ok. I’m ok.”

Glenn quickly grabbed her hand again, but a man moved behind her and she was suddenly hauled to her feet and pushed towards Negan. Apparently he wanted to make sure that everyone had a good view of the main attraction for the evening. She was once again forced to her knees, this time facing Rick, “it’s ok, Rick. Don’t do anything stupid. Keep them safe.”

She did a sweep of the line up as Negan spoke from behind her, “you got one week Rick, when we come knocking you better open up, cause I own that fucking door now!”

She tried to take in every face one last time. Tears were falling, shoulders shaking with silent sobs, and she tried to reassure them all that it would be ok with a smile as she straightened her back and held her head high.

“That’s it, Carol,” Lucille was placed on her shoulder as reality sank it, “take it like a champ. I’d expect no less.”

Her eyes found Daryl’s one last time, her mouth formed the words that she’d been meaning to tell him for years, but her voice was silenced by the first strike.

She felt herself fall as the darkness took over, but it was soon replaced by a light, and the screams and pleas of her family grew faint as a new voice grew louder, “Mom?”


End file.
